Internet Free Trial Offer Scams

Unfortunately the internet is rife with these so-called “free – trial” offers. There are masses of culprits offering anything from Acai berries, Teeth whitening and even Free Credit Report and Score! Some of them are outright scams, while others are simply misleading and rely on you not reading the terms and conditions.

They seem to fall into 2 categories:

1. Sign up for a free report – just give your email address and download immediately. The objective here is to get your email address which is then sold – you will undoubtedly start receiving spam and phishing emails from fake banks or people selling Viagra.
2. Sign up for a free trial – but give us your credit card details. Of course once they have your credit card details they usually continue to bill you fairly hefty amounts on a monthly basis. If you don’t notice for 2 or 3 months they’ve made quite a profit out of you. The small print will usually say you have to cancel within 10 or 14 days otherwise you’re assumed to have signed up for the paid service.

Quick Credit Score10-Day Free Trial Membership

Quick Credit Score off a free 10-day Free Callcredit report and they advertise an easy 2-step sign up.

In Step 1 they clearly state:

After your 10-day FREE trial period your Quick Credit Score membership will cost you just £14.95 per month. Remember, you can call us for the price of a local call on 0845 026 1094 within the first 10 days to cancel your membership and you will not be charged the membership fee. To ensure continuous service, at the end of your trial period your membership will be automatically charged each month, on or about that same date, to the credit/debit card you provide today.

However, looking on www.complaintsboard.com I see there are 42 complaints so far.

• Some from people who state they never signed up for a credit report at all!
• Some from people who have had more than £14.95 taken from their accounts - such as £19.95 and £29.95 each month.
• Even more worrying is the number of people who say that Quick Credit Score took money and on the same day more money was taken from Rewards Now, who coincidentally are registered at the same address as Quick Credit Score and are operated by the same company; Adaptive Affinity Ltd! Just do a search for "rewards now scam" and you'll find lots of similar reports of dodgy behaviour.  It looks like Adaptive Affinity Ltd are involved in many other similar scams like Vistaprint, High Street Max, Club Prem etc.  See this article.

ADVICE

Use one of the 3 reputable credit reference agencies to get a credit report:

• Experian (Creditexpert; 30-day free trial available)
• Equifax (30-day free trial available)
• Callcredit

Always read the small print and terms & conditions.

Always check your credit card statement carefully and query any payments that are unauthorised.  If you've been scammed by these dodgy dealers ask your credit card company to do a chargeback and report them to Tradings Standards.

Only give your credit card details if you are confident it’s a reputable company.

Check out consumer sites such as www.complaintsboard.com and Google to look for complaints before signing up for any free trials.

Free 10-Day Trial for a Product such as Everwhite (UltraWhites) Teeth Whitening Kits or Acai Berries

For an example see www.myeverwhitekit.com but there are others. These scams offer you a product trial and you only have to pay for shipping and handling – usually a small fee of around $3.

Sounds too good to be true! That’s because it is!

You’ll never see the product but you’ve given them your credit card details so they will be taking a monthly fee of $87.47. You’ll never be able to get hold of them to cancel.

ADVICE

Check them out on Google or on www.complaintsboard.com or www.canyoutrustthem.com.

Assume that they’re all scams unless you can find positive proof that they’re not.

NOTHING IS FREE! If it’s free why do they need your credit card details?

Always read the small print and terms & conditions.

Always check your credit card statement carefully and query any payments that are unauthorised.

Only give your credit card details if you are confident it’s a reputable company.

HOW NOT TO LOSE YOUR SHIRT ON FREE TRIAL OFFERS

My advice is to assume it’s a scam until you find evidence to the contrary.

Keep and use a pre-paid credit card with a very low balance. Use it for this type of purchase so that if you are scammed, your loss is limited.